chusss loops - Volume 2

chusss loops are 10 CD packs that have 12 jamming tracks each.

each CD have 12 jamming tracks in all modes and popular scales in different keys

you can listen and buy all chusss loops from

chusss loops

here is a summary of chusss loops VOLUME#2:

1.  A Mixolydian - Mixoleap    04:08

A   G   D
A   G   D

2.  B Gypsy - Sadmat    06:34

B5   A5   D#5   C
B5   A5   D#5   C

chorus
G5   E5   D#5   C
G5   E5   D#5   C



3. B Phrygian - Merta7 El Dameer    06:32

Bm7   Em7   Am7   Bm7
Bm7   Em7   Am7   Bm7
Bm7   Em7   Am7   Bm7
Bm7   Em7   Am7   Bm7

chorus
Em7   D7    C7   B7
Em7   D7    C7   B7



4. Bm Pentatonic - Penta Rock    05:28

Bm   G   D   A



5. Cm - Magazan    04:20

Cm7   Gm7   Cm7   Gm7
Fm7   Gm7   Fm7   Cm7

6. C Maj/A Min - Turning Point    05:51

C   F    C    G
C   F    C    G

chorus
Am    F    C    G
Am    F    C    G


7. D Dorian - DmAmFG    04:10

Dm   Am   F   G


8. Em - Latin Passion    03:16

Em7   Am7   D7   B7
Em7   Am7   D7   B7



9. Dm Pentatonic - Penta Morn    06:33

 Dm7   E7b5   F    Gm7

10. F Major - Snow Cloud    04:06

F   A#


11. G Major - GBmC    03:55

 G   Bm   C

12. Gm - Decay    05:25

G   F   G   F   D#   F    D#   D

Robski Man - Backing Track

Hi

this is the backing track of my original song "Robski Man"

you can jam over it using a lot of scales

basically E minor and E harmonic minor

you can also relatively solo in B phrygian or phrygian dominant

hope you like it

keep rocking

cheers

Robski Man 1 BAK M1 by carantash

Fragments - 2011

Fragments album has been released in DEC 2011
this album is so special to me cause I worked on it for over 2 years.

guitars used in this album are my fender stratocaster and Ibanez RG370DX

I use many software to write my music and compose backing tracks the original songs
but in this album I wrote many songs without using synths or any plugins

I'm happy to share this album with you, with a FREE download link of the FULL album
the quality of the mixing and mastering are not good, that's because I'm a musician more than a sound engineer
so don't judge me hard on this

the album story came up after 2 years of suffering due to living circumstances, love life and some other crazy shit
so all the 15 tracks are like parts of me, fragments of my statue

I'd like to thank the cover designer Achilles for his contribution and for his support

I'm planning to post chord progressions of the album tracks soon

but for now I will leave you to listen to the album and feel free to drop me a couple of lines as some feedback..


here is the download link 

80's Rock Ballad Jam in D Minor

80's Rock ballad in Dm Jam Track

you can download and listen to the backing track here

http://snd.sc/wcLPje

 80's Rock Ballad Guitar Backing Track in D Minor by chusssjamzzz

 

SCALES USED

D Minor

D Minor pentatonic

7 Ways to Get You inspired With New Music Ideas

Sometimes you get inspired with a new riff or melody, you just find some new idea playing in your head then you start to work on it. This kind of inspiration mostly gets the best ideas even though the inspiration source is unknown.
It could be some experience that you faced or someone that you met. regardless of the source of your new idea, you got inspired somehow and you found yourself motivated and ready to move forward and develop your idea to something nice.

The problem is that you can't always wait till you get inspired this way. This kind of inspiration happens as a coincidence or by chance. Even though it's good, original and unique but it's random and doesn't happen that often with most people.

It's a good practice to always be conscious and aware of what inspires you most.
I will discuss this topic more in a future post, but in this post I'd like to share some ways that I always follow when I like to get inspired, or when I stay idle for sometime or run out of new ideas.

so lets get started...


Pick your Guitar!

it's always good to pick your guitar and play sometime without any backing track or playing some song that you already know. of course, when you play covers or some of your original songs you might get inspired. but playing the guitar for the sake of exploration is a guaranteed way to generate new ideas.


1- Scale Position!

you can start to play some scale that you know, if you play the scale in a position you already know, most probably you will tend to play the same licks you always play.
but if you start to play the same scale in a new position, then you can come up with new licks. 

some techniques can be applied better and easier in a specific position. but when you play the same scale in a new position you will discover that you can apply different techniques and to express new qualities. This will help a lot in building new licks and ideas.

2- Chords!
 
the same concept applies to chords. Try to play chords that you know in different positions over the fretboard. Then you can try make some variations to any chord by changing some of its notes. 

This is a very powerful way to express new feelings. In some cases, when you try to make a variation to a chord you will end up playing a totally different chord with a unique quality.

You don't have to know what the new chord is called. Even if it's always good to expand your musical knowledge by knowing new chord names and so, but don't let this limit you from moving on and use the new chord variation in a new song or composition.

3- Melody!

Sometimes you can start writing a new song when you compose a new melody, this way you start to harmonize the melody by playing a chord progression that suits and backs your melody. it's not necessary to have a chord progression though, there is other ways to build your song once you have a new melody.

4- Chord Progressions!

Another way is to play a chord progression, it doesn't have to be a new chord progression by the way. Actually the total number of strong chord progressions is a bit limited specially in mainstream music.

This doesn't have to be a limit. If you have a chord progression that you used in a different song before, you can change the rhythm for example or they way you strum the chords.
You can also play the same chords but in different positions.
or you can play some notes only from the same chords.
These are all some ideas that can make you move on and have new qualities even if you are stuck with the same chord progressions that you usually play.

5- Improvise!
 
After you have finished a new chord progression with a new quality, try to record it nicely and start to improvise over it. This will help you come up with a cool melody or some motifs that you can utilize to produce a new song. 
if you feel that you are not able to come up with any new ideas, you can try to change the scale position like I said before. You can also change the whole scale. for example if you play natural minor, you can try to play pentatonic minor or harmonic minor. This will inspire you with new ideas for sure.

6- Beat!

There is also a couple of ideas to start writing music. 
For example, you can try to find some drums loop on internet.

also yon build a new beat on your music sequencer. This will be enough to help you play new riffs.

Try to get some drum loops with new styles that you never played before. I find this very inspiring to me and I always come up with new riffs or chord progressions that can help me produce a new song.

7- Time!
 
a good idea also is try to play along new time signatures. You might find this way a bit complicated at first, but in the end you will have new ideas when you start to play comfortably over a new time signature. 

Another way is to play in a new tempo, this will also gets you inspired with a lot of new ideas even if you play along the same beat or chord progression. When you change the tempo up or down this changes the energy significantly.
Everyone feels more comfortable playing in some tempo range, but doing this all the time can be very limiting and will stop you from having new ideas.


There is much more ways to get you started, but I think these are the most common and powerful ways.

I might write a new post with new ways when I build a list in the future.

for now, I hope you start practicing these ideas and I'm sure you will find them very helpful.

I will be more than happy if you have some ways that you like to share with me.

You can Email me or leave a comment if you have any question.

KEEP ROCKING...

Heart Discharge - Track Stories from the release

Hello,

well, it's almost 2 weeks after the album has been released in public. The album has been downloaded at least 50 times in various countries! I don't know what to do with this piece of statistic yet, just wanted to share it with you beside some other details that I like to share about this release.

so about the album title "Heart Discharge" it's very obvious that it is an attempt to empty my heart from all the shit that is accumulated inside. some shit is dark, some is bright, some is funny...etc

this album has been written and produced in almost 2 years... I started working on it immediately after the 25th Jan revolution in Egypt. with a lot of serious events happening to me personally , to my country and to the world, I had a lot of ideas and philosophies to express and record. 

I found no more suitable name for this album other than HD. Actually HD is a song that I wrote more than 10 years ago when I started learning the guitar. at that time I had no idea about anything.. in fact, I didn't know that there is something called a scale or harmony or any other musical shit. all what I knew is that there are notes, and they are what matters in the end. 
so I only wrote what sounded good to me, and what had an expression of some idea or feeling.

so the album has 20 tracks in the list, with about 1:24:00 in duration.

here are some details about each track from this record:


01 - 3 Sagayer


this track is about the fear of running out of resources. I had 3 cigarettes only left one night. I had a strong anxiety about what I may suffer when those 3 cigarettes are finished. so that started the main idea about this track and I thought why not to waste time in a useful manner rather than fear or tension.

this was the very first track to be composed in this album


02 - Janum

this is a love song that I dedicated to my falanka. I finished writing and recording this song soon after I participated in the guitarist festival II in sakia. this song has some strong Arabic lines. and I call it Arabic because I tend to play some Arabic scales that always influenced my music. I don't call it oriental cause I think oriental is more like music coming from the far east.. china, japan... I don't know if this is correct or not. 

anyway for those who always criticize me for using the word Arabic as a description of my music. or others who say that Arabic is a language, I like to update your knowledge that Arabic also is an adjective and you can look that up in your dictionary if you have one. if you don't you can try to install Babylon or some similar software. this kind of technology is very useful for you.



03 - Deadly Craving

this one is about some sorts of addictions in general. life is full of things that one can be addicted to. some addictions are ok like food or air for instance, some other are destructive. but anyway, the craving is always bad and might be deadly not because your body won't stand the craving itself, but because many people tend to end this craving by submitting to the substance they are addicted to again, or in some cases, end their own lives as to escape the suffering of the deadly craving.


04 - Lost Words

ok, here comes some bright shit. this one is about the moment you realize that something or someone is beyond anyway of description in any word from any language. I'm talking positive here regarding this one in specific, cause I think you must be sure that sometimes you can't describe how shitty someone or something is!

so this happened to me quite a few times, but this kind of experience always reinforced the belief that speaking words might be a good and an effective way of communication, but expression without no words is always stronger and may leave a permanent impact. this applies to many forms of art if you know what I mean.


05 - Heart Discharge

I already mentioned some details about this one above in the intro of this post,

but I like to dedicate special thanks to my friend Mohamed Said "Diesel" for lending me his guitar during the time I wrote this song.



06 - Bela Maseer

this one is about a desire to reject fate. some people believe that everything is already decided for you and your life before you were born and some similar ideas with the same concept.

I actually find it very hard for me to believe in such a thing. I think that life is a journey ok, but most of the events and consequences that happen to any person have different causes and some decisions. one important lesson I learned is to always take the responsibility of what I do. this doesn't mean that it is very simple or that I can fully control my life. but most of the time what happens in my life is a result or a reaction to a decision I made or a path that I followed. this makes much more sense I guess.


07 - Rabonshy

This one is another love song that I dedicated to my falanka. simple chords and melody. a bit repetitive in different energy levels. but there is not much to say when the main topic is love!



08 - The Third Eye

one of  my biggest interests is energy and how to control it and make good use of it.
I was inspired to write this song while reading some info about chakras, or energy centers in all living bodies.

anyway, if you are interested in more details about this you can use this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra#Ajna:_The_Brow_Chakra



09 - Pheromone Spray

this one has a strong Arabic flavor, simple chord progression and melody, and it's one of my favorites to play.

the main subject of this song is how cheap, abusive, manipulative  and commercial our reality has become. there is so many examples that prove this fact that we are living in the world today. 
I found it really fucked-up to have some product in the supermarket that you can spray on your body to attract more women to you! I don't care about if that works or NOT cause I never really tried it, but to actually see some people have no problem to pay money to use this fucking product is really very provocative to me. beside that I feel helpless trying to imagine what else can happen in the near future! it seems that there is no way to escape this kind of cheap SCAM!

FUCK, I need to get the fuck out of here!



10 - Seeds in the Desert

this one is about making a tough decision. sometimes the only hope is to face difficulties... sometimes you have to learn the hard way.. actually learning the hard way is much more effective and lasts longer. so this is the main subject of this song. beside making some stupid decisions too, like leaving a whole sea and fish in a spot that already has 100 fishermen and expect to have any chance! 

Arabic flavor, Dark, a bit aggressive and I love to play it!



11 - Darkness Shine

the main subject of this one is that sometimes the only solution can be very unexpected. so it's always good to think outside the box like they say. it's also good when you don't tend to judge things before enough experience. most people judge because it's easier, or they get influenced by others... less risk... but I personally tend to try everything myself then can form a judgement based on my experience. to be honest this caused me many problems, but it's just something that's against human nature. and I like to tame it!




12 - Tatumour

another love song dedicated to my falanka... had some funny words that I don't need to share now!

very Arabic and actually was a new experience to play along some new time signature and some new Arabic beats.

 
13 - Brain Leaks intro

brain leak = heart discharge. the only difference is that you do discharge your heart when you will, but the leaks start to appear as a result of too much oppression! or pressure. and there is no way to avoid that except free thinking.



14 - Brain Leaks

the discharge material that comes out of brains is usually less aromatic than the material that comes out of the heart, but the one that comes out of the heart is more poisonous!

the main riff of this track has been composed by me long time ago, I used to play it over and over for many years just for practicing as I think it's full of power and some aggression.

then I decided to extend it to be a full instrumental rock song in 2012 to be released in my Heart Discharge album.


 
15 - Baree2

one of the most popular ways people use to victimize each other is to use guilt. people will try to make you feel guilty about anything that makes you unique or different. of course, one of the most important methods to manipulate or control someone is to make him feel guilty deep inside using religions. this was one of the biggest traps that I suffered for sometime before I started to break free.

I composed a song before that I called "NOT Guilty" about the same topic.
this time I still insist on the same point of view, in a positive way this time, just to add a bit more emphasis and make it stronger.

It was never my choice or decision to exist in this life. I am what I am. I do what I do.
I like what I like and I believe in what I believe in!

this is just me and I no longer feel guilty about the nature of myself. I still have some regrets regarding some acts that I have done in the past. this is also one big source that enforces guilt, but in the end, I'm sure that if I stand anywhere in front of any number of juries I'm going to be judged as "NOT Guilty" and if not, this is how I see myself.



16 - Robski Man

regardless of what is or who is Robski! , this one is about being controlled consciously or sub-consciously by something or someone. sometimes you can be enslaved by some part of your own body. your mind, your stomach, your heart...etc

it might be very sad to know this at first, but in all cases, it's much better to realize what is controlling you and try to free yourself from this slavery than just denial or thinking otherwise.

 
17 - Vague Vision

one of the best quotes that I read some where, is that you don't have to see the whole staircase to reach up, all what you need is to use the first step... then move on!

so I was inspired to write this song after some experience that I had. 

one night, I was at my place with a friend who lived 65 kilometers far from my place. it used to take around 30 minutes to drive from my place to my friend's place. anyway, time passed quickly and I had to drive him back to his place. when we went out to get in my car we discovered that the road was totally foggy! it was only possible to see a few meters ahead.

I decided to take the road and it was a great experience! all what I needed is to see were those few meters while driving slowly. The more I moved forward the more meters were revealed clear to see.

it took a bit longer than usual of course, but this experience changed the belief that I need to see all the way clearly between any two points to start moving... most of the time it's enough to move a small step forward then the rest of the way will unfold automatically and make you have a new vision that you would never have if you never moved.




18 - Hollow Trap

this one again is about being trapped in life! or on this planet... the more time I spend in this life the more I feel sure that life is just an illusion that we perceive through our limited senses.

there is not much to talk about regarding this topic here, but this topic is one of my biggest interests to think about and contemplate, so I'm going to write some more about it in future posts.

19 - Absolutely Outer

I was inspired to write this song as a dedication to some very good friends that I was lucky to meet and have in life.

No one is perfect this is a fact, and I don't believe in angels, but to be honest only a few people I met made me believe they can't be really humans... they must have come here from outer space. from some planet where people are good and faithful...



20 - Wage Slaves

Money can't buy happiness. I'm sure you heard this cliche' before... I'm not here to disagree with it.

I just like to make it a bit clearer to you.

Money can't buy happiness, Money is happiness itself!

and to gain money you need a job
a job that pays you a wage.

this song is dedicated to all people around the world... all people.. all wage slaves!

inspired by Zeitgeist documentary.

for more details you can follow this link:
www.thezeitgeistmovement.com

Music Writing - Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog.

well, I was very hesitated to start writing this blog, specially about the main topic which is Music in general.

I was very unsure that I can offer something special or useful to anyone about music writing.
I know as a guitarist I might be an intermediate player, as a musician also I'm very limited and the internet is full of more advanced players and musicians. 

There are many famous websites that offer FREE tips and lessons, video tutorials...etc
Those lessons also might be conducted and presented by people who are graduated from famous music schools and decent institutions.

but in the end, I decided to write this blog and share all the posts simply because this is something that gives me pleasure.

with all the previous points in mind, don't expect to find info that you will never find else where.
so no need for judgements or high hopes. the only thing that I'm confident about is the method itself, the way things are presented and explained.

in this blog you will find tips and info that I gained through my personal experience.
I will try to keep it simple as much as I can, I will also add as much related media to my posts.

Enjoy.

chusss

Writing Music - Inspiration Key!

Hey there friends,

I have been writing music since I was really young. At that time I didn't have any helpful equipments or gadgets like the ones found today, so many melodies and ideas were lost.

today with the kind of technology we have, things became much easier, and you can really keep your ideas some where safe until you find the right time and turn those ideas to something complete and beautiful.

I will be writing some articles in this blog about the things I learned through my life regarding music writing.

so bookmark this page if you are interested in this topic and I'm sure you will find many things useful and cool.

I'd like to talk today about the inspiration key.

you will have a very good feeling when you get inspired and start to have some cool melody or motif in your mind. to make this feeling last longer and turn it to something that you can keep and share with others, first thing you need is to record it quickly before you get distracted.

the easiest way that I always do when I have a new riff or melody playing in my head is to play it with my mouth and record it on my mobile. Now, my mobile has more than 100 ideas that can be utilized to produce many songs. It's also a good practice to always store those files where you can reach easily.

next thing you can do is to start playing this riff or motif on your instrument. and since I'm a guitarist mainly, I'm gonna refer to the main instrument to be a guitar by default from now on.

the main purpose of this post is to emphasize on the inspiration key. 
For example, you had an inspiration of a cool melody, you recorded it then later you started to play it on your guitar. it could be in the key of C for example, this method main focus is to try to play the rest of your melody in the same key without shifting or transposing to a different key.

I don't know if this technique is recognized by others, or professional musicians, but I have always done this with all my instrumentals. when it comes to songs with lyrics it's different because the key of the song has to match with the singer's vocal range. so the original melody could be in C for example but then during the production and recording of the song it could be transposed lower or higher to a different key to be easy for the singer to master and sing with full capability and expression.

The main reason this has became one of my best practices is that sticking to the original key allowed me to play in almost every key. for example, many guitarists know how to play well in A minor or E minor...etc but less guitarists are able to play skillfully in other keys. so the first thing you will gain by applying this method is to expand your knowledge of the fretboard, then it will help you a lot in memorizing all the notes on the guitar neck.

one other reason why I found this method really useful is that when you keep your song in the original key, it makes it has a different taste and quality. if you listen to many pop artists and singers you will notice that most of their albums are played in the same key. as I said this has much to do with the vocal range of the lead singer. Also it has some to do with the playing skills of pop songs session musicians. most of them are well trained to play in pop keys, but less can play in other keys.

I believe that the original key makes your music original, authentic and unique.

You know that everything is energy in this universe, this has been proven by science.
Sound also is an energy, and the quality of this energy varies from the vibrations and waves generated by your instrument. so, when you play in any key or scale, you produce a different kind of energy. This energy is responsible of the impact you leave with your audience or listeners. there is many factors that can affect your listeners positively or negatively. and one of these factors is the key of your song.

other important factors will be discussed in future posts.

but this is all about it, I hope you find this tip useful. let me know your comments or questions if you have any.

see you later in a new episode.

Heart Discharge album release - 2013

chusss - The Visitor

Arabic Instrumental Rock from Egypt

Track  List:

01 - 3 Sagayer
02 - Janum
03 - Deadly Craving
04 - Lost Words
05 - Heart Discharge
06 - Bela Maseer
07 - Rabonshy
08 - The Third Eye
09 - Pheromone Spray
10 - Seeds in the Desert
11 - Darkness Shine
12 - Tatumour
13 - Brain Leaks intro
14 - Brain Leaks
15 - Baree2
16 - Robski Man
17 - Vague Vision
18 - Hollow Trap
19 - Absolutely Outer
20 - Wage Slaves

Total Duration:

1:24:00

Full download link:

http://tiny.cc/chusss-HD-2013
http://goo.gl/Z6bkL
 

Full streaming link:

http://chusss.bandcamp.com/album/heart-discharge

All songs are composed, played and recorded by Mohamed Shawky (chusss)

more details about this album will be posted soon, including:

gear info
production info
tracks stories

and more...

Stay tuned and enjoy the music.

chusss